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Courtesy of US Soccer:
U.S. Men's National Team Game Notes
USA vs. Mexico
2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup
PLACE ON THE PODIUM BECKONS: The U.S. Men's National Team is set to face Mexico in the final of the 2009 edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup at Giants Stadium on Sunday, July 26.

This will be the first in an occassional series of posts where we look at the available players for the US heading into the 2010 World Cup, and the players that we think are likely to get the call.
With a second-place finish in the Confederation's Cup, which included a huge 2-0 win over Spain, and a hard-fought championship loss to Brazil, it's hard to argue against using most of the players who saw action in the Confed.

Don't let the skeptics tell you Grenada is a poor opponent. This side qualified for the Gold Cup by beating World Cup 2006 and current Hexagonal participant Trinidad and Tobago. This is also a team that gave Costa Rica such a scare in the second round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying that Hernan Medford was sacked as the Ticos manager.

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The U.S. men's national team's World Cup qualifier against Mexico in Estadio Azteca will take place exactly a week from now and while we know what players Mexico has brought in for the match, we still haven't heard who the United States will be calling in.

I know tomorrow we should get word of who exactly will be on the US roster for the Mexico game next week. I felt since it was a bit of a slow day around here I'd give my two cents. Feel free to do the same.

Goalkeepers: Tim Howard, Brad Guzan.

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra, Jay DeMerit, Oguchi Onyewu, Jonathan Spector, Chad Marshall, Steve Cherundolo, Jonathan Bornstein.

Bob Bradley's intital 30-man roster for the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup has been released on the CONCACAF website.
What do you think about this roster? What new names are you excited to see? Do Pablo Mastroeni and Ricardo Clark deserve to be there?
There are some names I'm glad to to see and others I don't want anything to do with.

The main stats for the U.S. Panama quarterfinal were posted yesterday. But during a discussion with a friend, I began wondering about whether either side had an advantage in height or weight. Here is what I found. I know that height and weight statistics are subject to gamesmanship among teams, but for the purposes of this post we will assume that a player's height and weight are accurately reported.

Why wouldn't MLS players dominate the January MLS Camp though?  MLS season is long over and doesn't start up anytime real soon.  On Wednesday, February 11th the US MNT plays in Columbus against rivals Mexico in the first game of the last round of World Cup qualifying.  The US has had good success against Mexico in Columbus and should continue that success in next month.

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Defenders Michael Parkhurst and Steve Cherundolo are the latest U.S. national team players to leave the Gold Cup squad to return to Europe, meaning U.

On Friday, United States National Team coach Bob Bradley released his 20-man squad list for the August 12th CONCACAF World Cup Qualifier against Mexico at Azteca Stadium. GOALKEEPERS (2): Brad Guzan, Tim Howard DEFENDERS (7): Carlos Bocanegra, Jonathan Bornstein, Steve Cherundolo, Jay DeMerit, Chad Marshall, Oguchi Onyewu, Jonathan Spector MIDFIELDERS (6): Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark, Clint Dempsey, Benny Feilhaber, Stuart Holden, José Francisco Torres FORWARDS (5): Jozy Altidore, Conor Casey, Brian Ching, Charlie Davies, Landon.

The 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup is just a few weeks away and the United States has named it's 23 man roster for the tournament. Many of the players from the Confederations Cup will be given a break as the team is largely made up from MLS teams. Here's the full roster.

U.S. ROSTER CONCACAF GOLD CUP 2009

GOALKEEPERS (3): Jon Busch (Chicago Fire), Troy Perkins (Valerenga IF/NOR), Luis Robles (FC Kaiserslautern/GER)

DEFENDERS (7): Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Clarence Goodson (IK Start/NOR), Jay Heaps (New England Revolution), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Michael Parkhurst (FC Nordsjaellands/DEN), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock/GER)

MIDFIELDERS (8): Davy Arnaud (Kansas City Wizards), Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Colin Clark (Colorado Rapids), Sam Cronin (Toronto FC), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Logan Pause (Chicago Fire), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)
FORWARDS (5): Freddy Adu (AS Monaco/FRA), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF/SWE), Santino Quaranta (D.

Real Salt Lake runs up the score against New England and it's late excitement in Columbus, Carson, and New York. Meanwhile, Toronto relies on their assistants. Chicago 2 - Columbus 2 Columbus took a 2-0 first half lead with goals from Chad Marshall in the 25th and Alejandro Moreno in the 34th, but they couldn't hold on a late surge from Chicago.

Bob Bradley and the US National Team staff has taken us on a magical run this summer, from the FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa to the CONCACAF Gold Cup here in the United States.
This ride culminates tomorrow in the Gold Cup Final, which will pit the US against regional rival Mexico at Giants Stadium in New Jersey.

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Now that the CONCACAF Gold Cup and FIFA Confederations Cup are behind us, we can start taking stock of the U.

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Bob Bradley has announced the squad he will bring in for the U.S. national team's upcoming World Cup qualifiers vs.

U.S. national team defender Oguchi Onyewu will be sidelined for around three to four months after suffering a torn patellar tendon in his left knee during the U.S. team's 2-2 tie vs. Costa Rica on Wednesday night in Washington D.C.

Onyewu was challenging for a corner kick in the 83rd minute when his left knee gave after he tried to plant it.

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We are a month away from U.S. men's national team coach Bob Bradley calling the first camp of the year, and the MLS-heavy camp should feature some new faces who have played their way onto the radar.

I touched on the subject in my Friday ESPN.

As I mentioned in my preview, the highlight of the opening weekend of MLS was going to be the Columbus Crew-Houston Dynamo match-up. The match featured the last two MLS Cup champions and arguably the best two teams in the MLS. Well, the match did not dissapoint as it was a back and [...]

A 1-1 tie would have been a pretty good prediction going in, and isn't a bad result for us. But it feels good to say that this team deserved better. DC United dominated in scoring opportunities, with 11 shots on goal to Columbus's 3. But they were a bit more effective at converting their few opportunities, as we let the Crew off the hook far too often with failed chances and weak shots straight at the keeper.

The Major League Soccer 2009 All-Star Game is only a week away as they will take on English Premier League club Everton. Here's the full rosters for both clubs.

Name Team Pos. Ht. Wt. Birthdate Hometown Kasey Keller (*) Seattle Sounders FC GK 6′2″ 190 11/29/69 Olympia, WA Pat Onstad (&) Houston Dynamo GK 6′4″ 215 1/13/68 Vancover, BC, Canada Geoff Cameron (*) Houston Dynamo D 6′3″ 185 7/11/85 Attleboro, MA Wilman Conde (*) Chicago Fire D 6′2″ 188 8/29/82 Cali, Colombia Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (&) Seattle Sounders FC D 6′0″ 183 5/16/84 Palmira, Colombia Chad Marshall (*) Columbus Crew D 6′4″ 190 8/22/84 Riverside, CA Davy Arnaud (&) Kansas City Wizards M 6′0″ 165 6/22/80 Nederland, TX Kyle Beckerman (+) Real Salt Lake M 5′10″ 165 4/23/82 Crotton, MD Cuauhtemoc Blanco Chicago Fire M 5′9″ 180 1/17/73 Mexico City, Mexico Brad Davis (&) Houston Dynamo M 5′11″ 175 11/8/81 St.

Despite the August 12th loss to Mexico, many US soccer fans still believe that their team has the edge against their Mexican counterparts on the international level. On the club level, however, there is no denying that Mexican teams dominate those from MLS. Last night was no different, as both DC United and the Columbus Crew were handed decisive losses at the hands of teams from south of the border.

Not perfect, but the performance got the job done. And no yellow cards, which means no one is suspended for the game at Trinidad and Tobago, where the USA has an opportunity for some road points.
GK Tim Howard 6 - Wrong-footed on the goal, but at least three defenders had a chance to put a stop to that threat.

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And those words are: Not the time to tinker.

Let me be clear at the beginning. I'm not a coach, I've never been a coach, and I don't have access to the kinds and amounts of information an MLS coach has at his disposal, nor the skills to interpret it. But, having said that, I just plain didn't understand Bruce Arena's starting lineup yesterday.

Major League Soccer announced the league's Best XI yesterday, as voted for by media, players, coaches and GMs. Here's what they came up with: GOALKEEPER (1): Zach Thornton (Chivas USA) DEFENDERS (3): Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo), Wilman Conde (Chicago Fire), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew) MIDFIELDERS (5): Dwayne De Rosario (Toronto FC), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), [.

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The World Cup is just six months away and with serious injuries and the inclusion of some new faces shaking things up on the U.S. national team, it is getting a bit tougher to project just which 23 players will be on the team when it heads to South Africa.

This is the second installment of a position by position look at the 2009 edition of the Columbus Crew. The reigning MLS Cup Champions begin to defend their title on March 21st in Houston and then come home to Columbus to take on Toronto. Let's examine what the black and gold will be working with [..

For most match preview, I usually wax philosophically about an issue related to the opponent or the goings on of the league. However, I would say that my thoughts on the whole Brian McBride situation would qualify with that. Besides, what is there to say? It's a Columbus-Chicago match up. If you need to be excited for this one, then you also might want to check and make sure you, in fact, have a pulse still.

GOALKEEPERS - Jon Busch (Chicago Fire), Troy Perkins (Valarenga), Luis Robles (Kaiserslautern)

DEFENDERS - Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Jay Heaps (New England Revolution), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjaellands), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock)

MIDFIELDERS - Davy Arnaud (Kansas City Wizards), Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Colin Clark (Colorado Rapids), Sam Cronin (Toronto FC), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Logan Pause (Chicago Fire), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)

FORWARDS - Freddy Adu (Benfica), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Charlie Davies (Hammarby), Santino Quaranta (D.

U.S. Soccer released the Gold Cup roster today and only four members of the Confederations Cup squad will be with the team, with Charlie Davies being the only one of those four to have played in any of the U.S.'s first four Confed. Cup matches.
GOALKEEPERS (3): Jon Busch (Chicago Fire), Troy Perkins (IK Start), Luis Robles (FC Kaiserslautern)

DEFENDERS (7): Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Jay Heaps (New England Revolution), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Michael Parkhurst (FC Nordsjaelland), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock)

MIDFIELDERS (8): Davy Arnaud (Kansas City Wizards), Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Colin Clark (Colorado Rapids), Sam Cronin (Toronto FC), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Logan Pause (Chicago Fire), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)

FORWARDS (5): Freddy Adu (AS Monaco), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Santino Quaranta (D.

With the recent spate of celebrity, ah, moving-ons, what better theme than that for this week's MLS predictions, now that I'm back from vacation and ready to be back in the flow.
With the quicky picks from the Hill Country last week, I'm at 40-57, a .412 mark, increasing my lead over blind chance to a season-best eight games.

by Jason Davis - Match Fit USA
Major League Soccer has a full slate of games taking place this weekend. All around the country, teams will do battle for precious points that come at such a premium in the parity-rich league. Many of the matches are appealing face-offs of solid squads, games that would normally provide the type of intense, all-out soccer for which MLS is known.

In each of the last two Gold Cups the United States and Panama have played competitive knock out stage matches. With that backdrop, much was expected tonight and the game was every bit as competitive as the previous two. I thought before the game the game would be decided by a single goal either way.

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MLS fans have grown accustomed to the MLS All-Star Game Format of having a team of MLS stars face a foreign club, and given the previous alternative of East vs.

I was going to pick out some interesting facts about the All-Star Game and make some lists out of them (three Colombian MLS All-Stars: Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Fredy Montero, Wilman Conde). But I thought it might be more valuable to readers just to have the rosters, especially Everton's. So here they are:

EVERTON FC
Carlo Nash, goalkeeper, Bolton, England
Tim Howard, goalkeeper, New Brunswick, N.

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by GIANFRANCO PANIZO

The 2009 Gold Cup is in the books, and while no American fan wants to remember how poorly the tournament ended for the U.S. national team, there were still some great performances to draw from it.

Here is the 20 player training roster for the USA, to be cut down to 18 on game day:
G:
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa
Tim Howard - Everton
D:
Carlos Bocanegra - Stade Rennes
Jonathan Bornstein - Chivas USA
Steve Cherundolo – Hannover 96
Jay DeMerit - Watford
Chad Marshall - Columbus Crew
Oguchi Onyewu – AC Milan
Jonathan Spector - West Ham United
M:
Michael Bradley – Borussia Monchengladbach
Ricardo Clark - Houston Dynamo
Clint Dempsey - Fulham
Benny Feilhaber - AGF Aarhus
Stuart Holden - Houston Dynamo
Jose Francisco Torres - Pachuca
F:
Jozy Altidore - Hull City
Conor Casey - Colorado Rapids
Brian Ching - Houston Dynamo
Charlie Davies - Sochaux
Landon Donovan - Los Angeles Galaxy
For me the surprises on this roster are Chad Marshall, Stuart Holden & Conor Casey.

The United States v Mexico rivalry continues on August 12th as they play in CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying. The match is important for both teams who have not clinched a spot to next year's World Cup yet. There are a few players from the Gold Cup including Chad Marshall and Stuart Holden. The rest of the roster is similar to the Confederations Cup roster with names like Howard, Donovan, Dempsey, Onyewu, and Bocanegra.

Major League Soccer had no answers home or away for Mexican clubs in the CONCACAF Champions League on Wednesday. The Columbus Crew now have a decidedly negative goal differential after losing 5-0 to Cruz Azul in Mexico City. Jaime Lozano opened the scoring in the third minute, and the Crew were down by two when Ramon Nunez scored five minutes later.

GOALKEEPERS (2): Tim Howard, Brad Guzan DEFENDERS (7): Carlos Bocanegra, Oguchi Onyewu, Jay DeMerit, Chad Marshall, Steve Cherundolo, Jonathan Spector, Jonathan Bornstein MIDFIELDERS: (8): Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Stuart Holden, Kyle Beckerman, Ricardo Clark, Benny Feilhaber, Jose Francisco Torres FORWARDS (4): Charlie Davies, Jozy Altidore, Brian Ching, Conor Casey

Three headers score the goals.

Cristian Castillo puts El Salvador up through a beautiful bit of trickery by Ramon Sanchez that freezes three US defenders allowing him to loft a cross that finds Castillo heading the ball past Tim Howard.

The US replies through Clint Dempsey (third time lucky) and Jozy Altidore.